Ms Caroline Timmons:

Ready to build was launched last year, following on from the launch of the vacant property refurbishment grant. It allows local authorities to bring forward sites, potentially on the outskirts of an appropriate town or village, which they want to sell at a lower cost to purchasers who want to build houses themselves. The idea is that there would be rejuvenation and regeneration of towns and villages. The local authority may use sites from its own stock or could also purchase sites. A subsidy is available for the local authority to do that. We went to local authorities with the scheme last year and asked them to bring forward sites under the programme. They have now submitted a number of sites. We will publish figures from here on about the number of sites. They will advertise those sites to make them available for purchase.